BUDGET REACTION | Santosh Naik,M.D & C.E.O, Disha Direct

"Overall the 2017 Union Budget is a good budget in general but mixed for real estate industry which was looking for more from this budget. The Government's initiatives like- Infrastructure status for Affordable Housing, 1 crore rural houses to be built by 2019, Carpet area will be considered Instead of Built up area of 30 and 60 sq meters for affordable housing will give a huge boost to the affordable housing sector. Schemes like- Holding period for capital gains tax for immovable property reduced from 3 years to 2 years will get investment from retail investors further adding to the development of this sector. Few policies undertaken by the government will give required boost in terms of sales and development. Some of these policies include- New FDI policy under consideration, Rs 2.41 lakh crore has been allocated to boosting infrastructure for transportation, Total allocation for the infrastructure sector is Rs 3,96,135 crore and Allocation for National Highways to be at Rs 64,000 Crore. However, the neglected areas in budget are increase of tax exemption in interest, ease of finance to industry and speedy approvals that would have proven beneficial to the real estate sector."